AI exposure: Anthropologists and Archeologists
Study the origin, development, and behavior of human beings. May study the way of life, language, or physical characteristics of people in various parts of the world. May engage in systematic recovery and examination of material evidence, such as tools or pottery remaining from past human cultures, in order to determine the history, customs, and living habits of earlier civilizations.
Reading this score
computed29.9% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Anthropologists and Archeologists at the 53th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.0 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 30 tasks it averages 2.13 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Write about and present research findings for a variety of specialized and general audiences, at 73.3%. The least is Clean, restore, and preserve artifacts, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within life, physical and social science occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 36.3% across the group's 60 roles, with 41 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 30 tasks, 14 are currently banded exposed, 4 assisted and 12 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take cheaper ways to verify output, since the cost of checking is currently doing more to hold this work in place than the cost of producing it. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
30 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Write about and present research findings for a variety of specialized and general audiences. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.37 | exposed |
| Write grant proposals to obtain funding for research. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.45 | exposed |
| Organize public exhibits and displays to promote public awareness of diverse and distinctive cultural traditions. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.44 | exposed |
| Formulate general rules that describe and predict the development and behavior of cultures and social institutions. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.11 | exposed |
| Identify culturally specific beliefs and practices affecting health status and access to services for distinct populations and communities, in collaboration with medical and public health officials. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.88 | exposed |
| Study archival collections of primary historical sources to help explain the origins and development of cultural patterns. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.24 | exposed |
| Conduct participatory action research in communities and organizations to assess how work is done and to design work systems, technologies, and environments. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.59 | exposed |
| Advise government agencies, private organizations, and communities regarding proposed programs, plans, and policies and their potential impacts on cultural institutions, organizations, and communities. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.44 | exposed |
| Enhance the cultural sensitivity of elementary and secondary curricula and classroom interactions in collaboration with educators and teachers. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.29 | exposed |
| Record the exact locations and conditions of artifacts uncovered in diggings or surveys, using drawings and photographs as necessary. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.08 | exposed |
| Apply traditional ecological knowledge and assessments of culturally distinctive land and resource management institutions to assist in the resolution of conflicts over habitat protection and resource enhancement. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 3.80 | exposed |
| Collaborate with economic development planners to decide on the implementation of proposed development policies, plans, and programs based on culturally institutionalized barriers and facilitating circumstances. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 3.36 | exposed |
| Plan and direct research to characterize and compare the economic, demographic, health care, social, political, linguistic, and religious institutions of distinct cultural groups, communities, and organizations. | 33.3% | 29.2% | 37.5% | 4.25 | exposed |
| Collect information and make judgments through observation, interviews, and review of documents. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.63 | exposed |
| Assess archeological sites for resource management, development, or conservation purposes and recommend methods for site protection. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.00 | assisted |
| Describe artifacts' physical properties or attributes, such as the materials from which artifacts are made and their size, shape, function, and decoration. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 3.67 | assisted |
| Develop intervention procedures, using techniques such as individual and focus group interviews, consultations, and participant observation of social interaction. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 3.35 | assisted |
| Lead field training sites and train field staff, students, and volunteers in excavation methods. | 15.0% | 22.5% | 62.5% | 3.71 | untouched |
| Consult site reports, existing artifacts, and topographic maps to identify archeological sites. | 15.0% | 22.5% | 62.5% | 3.50 | untouched |
| Teach or mentor undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology or archeology. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.42 | untouched |
| Create data records for use in describing and analyzing social patterns and processes, using photography, videography, and audio recordings. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Train others in the application of ethnographic research methods to solve problems in organizational effectiveness, communications, technology development, policy making, and program planning. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 3.95 | untouched |
| Develop and test theories concerning the origin and development of past cultures. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 3.57 | untouched |
| Research, survey, or assess sites of past societies and cultures in search of answers to specific research questions. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 3.50 | untouched |
| Compare findings from one site with archeological data from other sites to find similarities or differences. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 3.73 | untouched |
| Study objects and structures recovered by excavation to identify, date, and authenticate them and to interpret their significance. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 3.54 | untouched |
| Participate in forensic activities, such as tooth and bone structure identification, in conjunction with police departments and pathologists. | 6.7% | 43.3% | 50.0% | 3.33 | assisted |
| Gather and analyze artifacts and skeletal remains to increase knowledge of ancient cultures. | 4.6% | 7.9% | 87.5% | 3.91 | untouched |
| Collect artifacts made of stone, bone, metal, and other materials, placing them in bags and marking them to show where they were found. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.64 | untouched |
| Clean, restore, and preserve artifacts. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.42 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.03 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.43 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.10 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.95 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.13 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.80 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.